Apparatus for handling mail



A a -1929. G. F. MYERS A I www- APPARATUS FOR HANDLING MAIL Fi ed Jan. 21, 191,9

Patented Aug. 13, 1929..

UNITED STATES.

GEORGE FRANCIS MYERS, .OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

AIPPARATUS FOR HANDLING- MAIL.

Application filed January 21, 1919. Serial No. 272,253.

hereinafter described and specifically pointed out in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings Figure 1 is a diagrammatic sketch showing the route of the mailplane from its vhangar and back again, after delivering and collecting the mail from several cities and villages on route, without alighting.

Figure 2 is a perspective view of one of the stations en route, and shows the mailplane circling over the station and about to deliver the mail bag to the same. This is the preferred form of the invention and shows the system in operation. The station is shown on terrain where the landing of an airplanewould be next to impracticable. In the right distance is the next station to be visited by the mailplane the station or netting being shown mounted on the roof of the post ofiice building itself. The next station is shown on the top of a high hill on the horizon, and still another station to the left is shown mounted on a movable object such as a boat or float on the water.

Figure 31s a fragmentary front elevation partly in section, showing the central parts of the netting and the housing andsuperstructure within the netting.

Figure 4 is atop plan view of Figure 3 on the line w-y.

Referring now to the above mentioned drawings, the preferred manner in which the various parts are constructed and arranged is essentially as follows :1 is the station or upright structure or netting, and at the upper extremities of the poles that support the same are the lamps 2, 3, 4 and 5. Along the upper margins of the said netting are other lights or the like 6.

The netting 1 is of large mesh wire or rope or the like, and in the center between the folds of the netting is located the postmans housing 7, having suitable windows and doors 8. At each reentrant angle of the netting there is part of the netting cut away as at 9, so that the postman can have a convenient exit. This exit is covered up or protected by the inclined flap 10, so arranged that the postman can easily pass from his housing underneath the said flap as shown by the dotted or broken line with arrow heads 11 in Figure 4.

Above the said housing 7 is the superstructure or frame 43, and topping the same is a bowl 12 or the like holding lights or the like 13.

Springs 14 may be placed between the netting and the ground as shown in Figure 3, and these springs may also be placed between the poles and the netting if desired.

The mailplane may-be of any form, shape, size, power, or the like desired.

Also the said mailplane carries a drum 30 (also not shown) wound with cable 31.

The mail bag 62 may be attached to and detached from the cable 31 in any suitable manner, as by an ordinary snap hook for instance.

The operation of the invention is substantially and preferably as follows :The mailplane is taken out ofits shed or hangar at 51 with say six mail bags or pouches each bag being attached to the end of a cable wound on a drum. Dogs or catches keep the cables from unwinding and the bags from dropping.

The operator flies towards his first station, as for instance at A in Figure 1, along the ano'st convenient route as 52; and when he gets say within a mile or so from said station, he planes or drops to about the correct height from the ground.

As the operator nears the station A, he

releases the said dog.

friction due to the impact and the cable being now slack, the pouch now drops to the The bag will now ,trail along through the ground; the postman rushes out from his housing; runs under the inclined portion of the netting carrying the outgoing mail pouch; quickly unhooks the'incoming mail pouch from the cable; and snapsthe outgoing mail pouch to the said cable. In the meantime the operator in the machine has turned again (possibly twice as'at C) and speeds on his journey.

As my invention is in many of its aspects generic I do not limit myself to the particular construction shown or described, but also contemplate the employment of such equivalents as fairly fall within the scope of 'the claims.

may be used in which the mail can be handled from two opposite directions; though it is believed that a structure with four V- shaped openings will serve the public better as mail from four directions can be handled more expeditiously. Guy wires may be employed to hold up the posts or poles if desired; but the cable or bag is apt to foul these if the bag should miss the V-shaped opening. Whereas if the mail bag should miss the structure illustrated or hit the rounded off corner poles it would simply bounce off and would not foul, and the operator would fly past and return; and either try again from the same direction, or use one of the other ii-shaped openings facing a different direction. Netting of wire, or rope tarred, may be used; or the structure may be otherwise constructed, and with different materials.

It is not necessary that the said netting or the like be stationary, or permanently located in one place or even that it be anchored to the ground. For the device may be mounted on a moving vehicle travelling either on the ground or on the water, or in the air; for the same may be held up high above the earth by balloons for instance; or one flying machine moving through the air may exchange mail with another flying machine also flying' through the air (or even hovering) and going either in the same or in the opposite direction.

And while the locus or path of the mailplane may be as illustrated in Figure 1, any other path .may be used by the same. In fact the mailplane may be guided and even driven automatically or partly so, either by wireless or otherwise.

Themailplane shown is of the biplane type comprising: a car or fuselage 27 with the lower plane divided in sections and placedion either side thereof, the planes being staggered and of unequal length; propellers 58 mounted one on each side of the said car'an'd driven by an engine of any type; an elevator mounted in the slip stream of the said propellers and in the rear of the said car, with the direction rudder 56 placed in the divided portions thereof; and stabilizers or ailerons 57 trailing in the rear of the said planes and recessed therein, as well as eing, by means .of 59,, automatically re versely operated simultaneously and normally out of action. But I may use any other kind or type of aeroplane, or even any kind or type of flying machine, as for instance a helicopter, an ornithopter or a dirigible.

I may as shown handle mail or the like as express packages, freight or even passengers; and the word or term, mail, covers both the incoming and the outgoing mail, or its equivalent as above noted.

Instead of dropping the mail actually to the ground, it may be deposited on any plat form whether the same is elevated or on the ground itself, or whether the same be stationary or movable.

In order that the air sailor shall be guided equally well during the day time as at night, the lights at the post ofiice stations or the like may be kept burning during the day as well as during the night; and mist or fog piercing colors or rays or the like may be employed; or any other system of signalling may be used.

The herein described method and system I and apparatus may be used in connection with other vehicles or systems than aircraft,

and in this case the automatic altimeter control system and the automatic drum need not be used. In fact, even when a flying machine is employed, a standard altimeter or an ordinary drum may be operated, without any automatic mechanism attached thereto.

And it must be understood that various changes may be made in the form, proportion, size and detail of the several structures shown; the number and position of certain elements used; as Well as the character of the motive power employed; without departing from the spirit of the invention.

I claim:

1. The combination in a postal receptacle, of a plurality of upright supports, a netting stretched between the said supports and reaching adjacent to the ground for the purpose of catching or halting mail, an opening in the said netting adjacent to the ground,

and a protector in front of the said opening.

2. The combination in "a postal receptacle, of a plurality of upright supports, a netting stretched between the said supports and reaching adjacent to the ground for the purpose of catching or halting mail, an opening in the said netting adjacent to the ground, and an inclined netting in front of the said opening. I

3. The combination in "a postal receptacle, of a plurality of upright supports, a netting stretched between the said supports and reaching adjacent to the ground for the purpose of catching or halting mail, the said netting being formed into an angle 4. The combination in a postal receptacle,

of a plurality of upright supports, a netting stretched between the said supports and reaching adjacent to the ground for the pur pose of catching or halting mail, the said netting being formed into an angle with a curved inner portion.

5. The combination in a postal receptacle, of a plurality of upright supports, a netting stretched 'between the said supports and reaching adjacent to the ground for the purpose of catching or haltingmail, the said netting being formed into a plurality of angles.

6. The combination in a postal receptacle, of five poles one central and four placed symmetrically around the same, netting stretched between the said poles forming four angles and reaching adjacent to the ground for the purpose of catching or, halting mail, openings in the narrow parts of the said angles, and coverings for each of the said openings.

7. The combination in a postal receptacle, of a plurality of supports, netting stretched between the said supports forming a plurality of angles with curved inner portions, and

a housing mounted between the folds of the said netting formed by the said curved portions.

8. The combination in a postal receptacle, of a plurality of upright poles, a netting stretched between the said poles, and a plu-- rality of springs interposed between the said netting and the said poles.

9. The combination in a postal receptacle, of a device comprising netting stretched between a plurality of poles against which aerial mail is guided, and a plurality of springs mounted between the said netting and the said poles.

10. The combination in a postal receptacle, of a plurality ofupright poles, a netting stretched between the said poles and reaching adjacent to the ground, and a plurality of springs mounted between the said netting and the said poles and between the said netting and the ground.

11. The combination in a postal receptacle, of four supports mounted at the four cardinal points of the compass, and netting stretched between the said supports for the purpose specified.

12. The combination in a postal receptacle, of four supports mounted at the four cardinal points of the compass, the supports at the north and south points being mounted further apart than the supports at the east and west points, and netting stretched between the said supports.

13. The combination in a postal receptacle, of four supports mounted at the :four cardinal points of the compass, the supports at the north and south points being mounted farther apart than the others, and netting stretched between the said supports and reaching adjacent to the ground for the purpose of catching or halting a mail bag and forming angles between the said supports.

GEORGE FRANCIS MYERS. v

Certificate of Correction Patent No. 1324,5071 Granted August13, 1929, to GEORGE FRANCIS MYERS It is hereby certified that error appears in the printed specification of the above nuinbered patent requiring correction; as follows: Page 2, strike out the paragraph beglnning at line 89 and ending at line 97. p

In the drawing, Fig. 3 should appear as shown below as part of the patent:

XT -Y F173.

and that the said Letters Patent should be read with these corrections therein that the same may conform to the record of the case in the Patent Oflice.

Signed and sealed this 12th day of November, A. D. 1929.

M. J. MOORE,

[SEAL] Acting Cowmnissiner' of Patents. 

